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Brunch in Paris


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I realize not everyone is a Premium Subscriber to Bonjour Paris, but this week, Margaret Kemp gives her take on "World" brunch at the Crillion. Since it's in English I gotta watch my word count, but in brief, Jean-Francois Piège offers - from a host of different countries: oeuf en cocotte with foie gras, smoked salmon, ham, three hot dishes, and a cheese board - plus jams, croissants, yogurts, fresh fruits, and desserts. Cost - adults 60E, children 30E. She also gives the disputed history (from 1860) of brunch and mentions the Jacquemart-Andre brunch (24 E) aready noted above.

John Talbott

blog John Talbott's Paris

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A long way from Les Ambassadeurs, but the definition of brunch is broad enough to encompass it all: Mariage Frères has quite a good brunch, both in the Marais and in the 6eme. There's also a place I've heard good reports of called, of all things, Breakfast in America, which is I think in the 5eme. And another American style breakfast place whose name escapes me on rue Princesse. Avoid like the plague all those Tex-Mex places appealing to homesick Americans.

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I realize not everyone is a Premium Subscriber to Bonjour Paris, but this week, Margaret Kemp gives her take on "World" brunch at the Crillion.  Since it's in English I gotta watch my word count, but in brief, Jean-Francois Piège offers - from a host of different countries: oeuf en cocotte with foie gras, smoked salmon, ham, three hot dishes, and a cheese board - plus jams, croissants, yogurts, fresh fruits, and desserts. Cost - adults 60E, children 30E.  She also gives the disputed history (from 1860) of brunch and mentions the Jacquemart-Andre brunch (24 E) aready noted above.

The oeuf en cocotte no longer has foie gras - it's spinach, tomato and garlic confit, with a mushroom cream sauce - served with tiny mesclun salads and grilled baguette. And there's then actually a choice of four hot dishes:

the Parisienne - parsley breadcrumb crusted chicken with a quenelle of tomato concasse and shoestring fried potatoes

the Italienne - black truffle risotto garnished with a truffle vinaigrette-dressed wild arugula salad and shavings of parmesan

the Norviegenne - potato pancake topped with thick slices of salmon and a quennelle of dill cream - oscetra caviar an additional option

and the Americaine - a melange of a spare Caesar salad base with Homard Americain - the classic lobster dish

There is also currently a dessert with a thick pancake garnished with lime zest and served with caramelised slices of banana.

And I can personally attest to the excellent quality of the housemade vienoisserie - the pain au chocolat is especially good.

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The BEST brunch I've ever had it my life was at the Crillon. It wasn't cheap at 60 Euros per head. But, it was an experience I'll always remember.

Has anyone else eaten there? If so, what were your impressions? I'm always curious if my take is valid.

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The BEST brunch I've ever had it my life was at the Crillon.  It wasn't cheap at 60 Euros per head.  But, it was an experience I'll always remember.

Has anyone else eaten there? If so, what were your impressions?  I'm always curious if my take is valid.

JVB, read back. There were a couple of posts on the Crillon. Les Ambassadeurs is the name of one of the restaurants at the Crillon. Was that where you had brunch?

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there,

Without justifying why an American living in Paris would take Sunday brunch in Paris and eat overpriced American-style food - we went to "Market" (15 ave. Matignon, 8eme) yesterday for brunch with some friends and our kids.

I was pretty pleased (except for the prices). It's not a buffet but the choices on the menu were all good. They had a brunch menu with some classics like lox, omelette, french toast, pancakes - as well as a "black plate" (assiette noire) menu where you get two tapas-style dishes for 32 euros. (None of that stuff was classic brunch!) It was all delicious, although the pancakes were a little on the small side for 10 euros. The ambiance is trendy and relaxed, with neutral tone gray wood and lots of tribal art scattered about.

My friends tell me dinner there is excellent although I haven't tried it yet.

Yours,

-- Harley

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I think that brunch, like Mexican food, has assumed an almost mythical significance for many Americans living in Paris. We want it because we can't (really) have it, and we forget what slop it really is.

Don't get me wrong: I adore slop, but in a very particular context. Brunch and Mexican food are, in the States, things you can have cheaply, at odd hours, and when you're not entirely sober. Diving into a vinyl booth and talking elbows-on-the-table as you entertain refill after refill (coffee, tortilla chips...) - these are the things I miss.

In Paris, these are the things that are missing when you go out for brunch and Mexican. And the french versions, because they are "incorrect," over-priced, or just plain bad (in the case of most Parisian Mexican food), do little to cure what's really ailing you - that you miss the informality and comfort of home.

These days when nostalgia hits I'm much more likely to invite friends over and ply them with coffee and hash browns chez nous. As for Mexican food: I've had to let it go. But the informality and price that I associate with taquerias back home can be found all over Belleville in the small and lovely North African joints.

In Paris, one adapts. In lieu of a diner, now I have Sunday mornings in Luxembourg Gardens or the Buttes Chaumont. Soggy bacon can be recreated at home while I save my money for the real treasures to be found in French restaurants. The great conversations happen while lingering en terrasse over a long late-afternoon apero. The elbows are off the table, and don't even think of asking for a refill, but it ain't half-bad.

--Meg

Meg Zimbeck, Paris by Mouth

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Don't get me wrong: I adore slop, but in a very particular context. Brunch and Mexican food are, in the States, things you can have cheaply, at odd hours, and when you're not entirely sober. Diving into a vinyl booth and talking elbows-on-the-table as you entertain refill after refill (coffee, tortilla chips...) - these are the things I miss.

Funny you should mention Mexican food, because that is the one thing that I miss when I'm in France. Everything else I can live without or make myself. But I just can't duplicate that inexpensive taqueria flavor. (and if anyone is tempted to ask why I'm thinking of Mexican food it's because I've spent enough time in France to start missing things from back home).

But the informality and price that I associate with taquerias back home can be found all over Belleville in the small and lovely North African joints.

I adore those North African joints and when I'm back home in the States that's what I miss the most about France. French ingredients/foodstuffs are readily available in Los Angeles, depending on how much you want to pay for it. The bread is not the same of course, the closest we've found is at Vietnamese bakeries and not at those ristzy westside artisanal bakers. But it's impossible to find good kebab and merguez sandwiches around here the way it's made in France.

I'm surrounded by French expats in LA. Many of them never quite adjust to American food. I hear the same complaints all the time.

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. . . . And the french versions, because they are "incorrect," over-priced, or just plain bad (in the case of most Parisian Mexican food), do little to cure what's really ailing you - that you miss the informality and comfort of home.

These days when nostalgia hits I'm much more likely to invite friends over and ply them with coffee and hash browns chez nous. As for Mexican food: I've had to let it go. But the informality and price that I associate with taquerias back home can be found all over Belleville in the small and lovely North African joints.

In Paris, one adapts.  . . . .

Excellent observations and suggestions. A good part of adapting to one's environment is looking for substance over style.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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I just recently read elsewhere that the Café Jacquemart-André serves Sunday brunch. No idea how the food is, but it certainly would be a nice setting.

Margaret Kemp wrote about that on http://www.bonjourparis.com as well.

In addition, there are many indepth postings about the Crillon brucnch on their forum board.

To L - who works at the Crillion, please tell me what you thought of the brunch.

And, what's it like to work for Piege? I think he's incredible! Do you?

Edited by JVB (log)
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As a NYer living in Paris for 2 years, I can't seem to abandon the idea of brunch. We often make one at home after going to our market in the 12th (Aligre), but I've discovered a lovely new spot. Hopefully we can keep in on the hush hush, the last time I was there it was not yet packed. It's on a tiny street in the Marais and seems hidden enough not to attract too many tourists. What I love about it is the B&B feeling. You arrive and the 10+ tables are already set with a basket of croissants and such and little yogurt pots. They offer you tea or coffee plus juice, there is no menu so they serve you what they have, eggs or quiche, formage, etc. I think it's about 25 euros a person for all. It's a lovely warm very country environment in the heart of Paris. It's called Appart'thé, 7 rue Charlot.

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  • 7 months later...

Jean-Louis Galesne in today’s Les Echos has an article on brunch, calling it a Parisian “institution.” He mentions that Philippe Toinard (of A Nous Paris fame) has put out a book called “Le Guide du brunch à Paris,” éditions de l'IF with 200 addreses that allows you to avoid mistakes and that the Crillon + Maison du Danemark are high on his (Toinard's) list. However, he (Galesne) favors Liza, Kiwi Corner, Barrio Latino + le Ritz.

John Talbott

blog John Talbott's Paris

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks John!

Actually, I've found quite a lot here and there in eGullet (and elsewhere), but it's so scattered about that often I read something interesting then just can't find it again when I want to.

I'd be happy to help out. :smile:

A couple I've discovered recently:

Miel et Paprika, 24, rue de Cotte, 12th

Tiny and cute, painted in saffron and red shades (i.e. honey and paprika). Very friendly and one of the best-value brunches in Paris, especially as endless tea or coffee is included. Because of its size there's not a lot of choice: with the brunch, it's scrambled eggs with salmon or a choice of two tarts, served with salad (on top of viennoiserie, jams, fromage frais and juice). You can also choose from the lunch menu. 15 euros or 18 with desert.

Directly opposite it:

La Gazzetta, at 29 r De Cotte

Big, with a table covered with newspapers and magazines at the entrance, most in French, some in English. The brunch comes with a pretty extensive set of options, and there are some smaller "snack" items if you're not so hungry - like variations of bruschetta, or little chevre chauds with figs. Plus wifi . 19 euros for brunch. Mediocre service.

Mimi

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Apparently Le Flore en l'Ile on Ile-St-Louis serves brunch. I don't know the details, as it was my children who remarked on the fact while paging through the menu, but our lunch was nice enough and the view was lovely.

Edited by therese (log)

Can you pee in the ocean?

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  • 3 weeks later...
I have heard excellent reports about the Sunday brunch at Les Ambassadeurs and intend on trying it while we are in Paris this Spring. A quality Sunday brunch in a beautiful setting has always held a certain sybaritic charm for me. I love lazily strolling by the carving stations, selecting from a large selection of delectable pastries, and being served champagne in Baccarat flutes. I think the opulence of the Crillon dining room would be an ideal setting for this type of experience. But then again I am an unrepentant bourgeois glutton.

The brunch at the Crillion is wonderful. But -- people who want to put on the RITZ are raving about brunch there... EVEN THO the service is a wee bit snotty and the hotel isn't what it used to be. PLUS bruch there cost one Euro more than the lunch menu. (76 Euros)

I read Margaret Kemp's article about brunches on http://www.bonjourparis.com

The new trend is very interesting.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Today, Amber Garrison in her Postcards from Paris, discusses brunch places, including the luxury ones – Durand Dupont in Neuilly Sur Seine and the Café at the Musée Jacquemart-André, the spicy Restaurant 404, the classic Ladurée and the “more down to earth” L’Estaminet.

John Talbott

blog John Talbott's Paris

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And today's Zurban brings yet another list of brunch places from 13 (La Petite Porte) to 39 (Le Murano) Euros:

Aerial - Kong in the 1st

Lebanese - Liza in the 2nd

Friends x2 - l'Estaminet d'aromes et cepages in the 3rd

Snobby - Le Murano in the 4th

Trendy - Curieux Spaghetti Bar in the 4th

Truly Italian - Nonna Ines in the 5th

Antipodial - Kiwi Corner in the 6th

100% Cheese - La Litote in the 7th

Top - Flora Danica in the 8th

Unifier - La Petite Porte in the 10th

Cool - Waly Fay in the 11th

Multicultural - l'Entrepot in the 14th

Informed - Le Kiosque in the 16th

Village-y - Cinnamon in the 17th

Medieval - Troubadour Coffee House in the 20th

John Talbott

blog John Talbott's Paris

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  • 4 weeks later...

Now in Paris, but leaving in less than 20 hours. At this moment I qm thinking of cancelling the Ritz brunch. I finally tracked down some info. It is 76 Euros and features sushi & tempura along with more traditonal breakfast fare.

At the moment, I am thinking of cancelling. Paris is not for sushi.

I have decided to leave in the q for a French keyboard errors. It reflects q certqin local reality.

Edited by VivreManger (log)
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Thanks for the suggestion, but the advantage of the Ritz - - perhqps the sole advantage - - was that brunch started at 11, time enough to eat and catch my flight. Any proper Parisian lunch starting at 1 or even a bit earlier would be too pressed to enjoy.

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  • 10 months later...

And today's Figaroscope's “Dossier” this week rated the “new” brunch places as follows:

9/10 Le Kube

8.5/10 Hotel Amour

8/10 Restaurant d’Orsay

La Ferme

7.5/10 Kiwi Corner

7/10 Bwyty

Carmine

6.5/10 Mosca Libre

with Francois Simon, in his Haché menu going to Mariage Freres in the 6th.

John Talbott

blog John Talbott's Paris

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I have not tried the brunch, but I did have a nice dinner at Urbane the other night. The sweet Irish lady that works there said they were going to be starting brunch and serving "real" bacon. The bacon alone is enough to get me over there.

"When planning big social gatherings at our home, I wait until the last minute to tell my wife. I figure she is going to worry either way, so I let her worry for two days rather than two weeks."
-EW
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